Super Tuesday: teckidtq rides final table wave to $75K win (2-7-17)

It’s not uncommon for the final table of the Super Tuesday to become a drawn-out battle, a side effect of both the elite field and the slow blind structure in play. Sometimes, though, one player manages to win all the right pots and at the right times, closing out the competition in short order.

Tonight that player was SCOOP 2015 NL Draw champ and former Sunday Million finalist teckidtq, who survived an all-in coin flip on the final table bubble to rush to a first career Super Tuesday title, and all in just 67 minutes.

The field came in at 414 players for this week’s installment of the Super Tuesday, good for a $414,000 prize pool split among the top 55 finishers. Six hours of poker took the field down to its money bubble, and within 15 minutes of returning from the break 1mDonuts had fallen in 56th place.

Another 45 minutes took the field down to just two tables. One more hour reduced the field to 10 players, setting up a final table bubble that wouldn’t burst for nearly another hour beyond that. Estonia’s Belqi and past Super Tuesday champ Alex “steakaddict.” Papazian both survived all-in moments on Table 6, but a coin-flip on Table 27 set up the final table just a few minutes after the clock ticked past midnight. With blinds and antes at 20K/40K/4K, two-time Super Tuesday champ Oliver “sk2ll_m0dR” Wies opened for a small raise to 88K on the button with 7♣ 7♥ . teckidtq re-raised to 262K in the small blind with A♦ Q♥ , then called all-in for 30K less when sk2ll_m0dR jammed for 1.23M. teckidtq’s tournament looked ready to slip away after the 10♣ 4♥ J♥ flop and 10♦ turn, but the K♣ river completed a Broadway straight draw. That left sk2ll_m0dR with less than a big blind’s worth of chips, and within a few hands he was out in 10th to set up this final table:

Seat 1: Oliver “ollie_p” Price (1,304,782 in chips)
Seat 2: NukeTheFish! (742,279 in chips)
Seat 3: Alex “steakaddict.” Papazian (805,710 in chips)
Seat 4: David “davaman” Lopez (744,557 in chips)
Seat 5: Belqi (1,070,358 in chips)
Seat 6: teckidtq (2,584,912 in chips)
Seat 7: Brian “brianm15” England (1,759,579 in chips)
Seat 8: Sand0-85 (579,373 in chips)
Seat 9: sterwor (758,450 in chips)

Several short-stacked players found opportunities to get all-in early on. Poland’s sterwor picked up A♠ A♥ in the big blind and doubled through teckidtq, who had opened the action with a pre-flop raise in the cutoff and continued for three streets with unimproved A♣ 2♦ . A few hands later MicroMillions II finalist NukeThe Fish! check-raised all-in with Q♣ J♠ and top pair on a 5♣ 2♦ Q♦ flop. The original raiser, past Super Tuesday runner-up, Sunday Warm-Up winner, and three-time COOP champion Brian “brianm15” England called with A♣ A♠ , but he lost out on the 1.38M-chip pot when the Q♠ hit the river to make three of a kind for NukeTheFish!.

Alex “steakaddict.” Papazian looked to continue the trend of short stacks doubling up two hands later. He re-raised all-in for 336K from the small blind with 3♦ 3♠ , and original raiser teckidtq called in middle position with J♦ J♠ . The board came 6♦ A♣ 7♦ 5♥ 6♠ , the jacks held up, and steakaddict. left the tournament in ninth.

Past Sunday Million winner Sand0-85 from Finland stole a set of blinds a few hands later and showed A♦ K♠ . Two hands later the Finn moved in for 520K over the top of brianm15’s 111K-chip opener, holding 5♦ 5♠ , and brianm15 called with K♦ Q♠ . The overcards won the race when the board came 7♦ Q♣ 3♥ J♠ 6♠ , knocking out Sand0-85 in eighth.

teckidtq was in the lead by a few big blinds with the table seven-handed, just ahead of past Sunday Million runner-up and SCOOP 2016 finalist Oliver “ollie_p” Price. That lead expanded in a big way one orbit later when NukeTheFish!, who had 9♦ 9♠ , opened the action with a 1.17M-chip all-in bet from the hijack seat. teckidtq re-raised and successfully isolated in the big blind with 10♣ 10♦ , which won the 2.46M-chip pot with tens full of fives after the board came 5♦ A♦ 2♥ 10♥ 5♠ , assuring NukeTheFish!’s destruction in seventh.

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ollie_p kept pace with a big win of his own three hands later. sterwor opened the action all-in for 1M chips on the button with 8♠ 8♥ , which landed the Polish player heads-up with ollie_p, who isolated in the big blind with A♥ Q♠ . sterwor was set for a double-up after the 5♣ 5♥ 3♥ flop and 6♠ turn, but ollie_p earned the 2.1M-chip pot with the A♦ on the river to bust sterwor in sixth.

MicroMillions III Main Event finalist David “davaman” Lopez picked some of those chips off of ollie_p two hands later, turning a set with 5♣ 5♠ to beat ollie_p’s flopped pair of jacks with J♦ 6♣ . Estonian player Belqi’s attempt to peel some chips off the leader on the next hand didn’t go as well. Belqi defended the big blind after teckidtq raised to 127K under the gun and then check-raised to 252K when the flop came 3♠ 6♦ K♦ . teckidtq called that bet, both players checked the 2♣ turn, and the river was the 4♦ . Belqi led for 395K but folded when teckidtq re-raised all-in, leaving the Estonian player with a stack worth 10 big blinds.

Six hands later Belqi was down to 411K and moved it all-in with A♣ 9♣ from the small blind after brianm15 opened for 133K under the gun. brianm15 called with A♦ 9♦ and became nearly a 2-to-1 favorite when the 5♦ J♦ Q♣ flop left him one diamond away from a flush. The 8♠ turn killed Belqi’s backdoor draw, but the K♦ river killed Belqi’s tournament in fifth.

Four-handed play consisted of a single pot. davaman opened under the gun with a min-raise to 120K, then called teckidtq’s button raise to 286K to take the 6♦ J♠ 9♣ flop. davaman, who held 9♥ 9♥ , check-raised all-in for 652K after teckidtq bet 157K. teckidtq called with 10♦ 10♠ , which held up on the 5♣ turn and 3♥ river for a 1.99M-chip win that eliminated davaman in fourth.

teckidtq now had 101 big blinds’ worth of chips compared to the combined 70 big blinds held in nearly equal measure by brianm15 and ollie_p. That advantage allowed teckidtq to claim 10 of the next 15 pots, including the only two worth at least seven figures, both taken via uncalled bets on the river. Then brianm15 opened the betting all-in for 1.79M chips on the button, holding 7♣ 7♥ , and teckidtq went into the time bank. Eventually the Canadian player called with A♠ Q♣ , which took the lead on the A♣ 3♦ 2♣ flop. brianm15’s two outs stayed in the deck as the 8♣ turn and 9♣ made a club flush for teckidtq, taking brianm15 out in third.

Two hands later it was teckidtq who opened the action with an all-in bet on the button. ollie_p called for 949K with Q♠ 10♦ and had the pre-flop edge with 60.4-percent equity against teckidtq’s J♦ 9♦ . But the 7♥ A♦ 9♣ 6♦ 3♣ made a pair of nines for teckidtq, bringing this week’s Super Tuesday final table to its end after just an hour and seven minutes.

The $55,148.81 runner-up finish ranks as the third-largest score of Oliver “ollie_p” Price’s PokerStars career. As for teckidtq, who added a Super Tuesday title to a resume that already included a SCOOP victory, the $75,029.01 top prize is a new personal best at PokerStars. Congratulations to both players on their big scores!

2/7/17 Super Tuesday ($1,050 NL Hold’em) results
Entrants: 414
Total prize pool: $414,000
Places paid: 55

1. teckidtq (Canada) $75,029.01
2. Oliver “ollie_p” Price (United Kingdom) $55,148.81
3. Brian “brianm15” England (Costa Rica) $40,536.31
4. David “davaman” Lopez (United Kingdom) $29,795.58
5. Belqi (Estonia) $21,900.80
6. sterwor (Poland) $16,097.85
7. NukeTheFish! (United Kingdom) $11,832.45
8. Sand0-85 (Finland) $8,697.27
9. Alex “steakaddict.” Papazian (Romania) $6,392.82

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Jason Kirk is a Freelance Contributor to PokerStars Blog.